Alabama department admits wrongdoing in schools' grade inflations

The Alabama department admits academic numbers reported to the public from state public schools have not been accurate. The graduation rates were lower than state officials reported to students, parents, politicians and the federal government. First, the state school system admits to poor oversight of awarding credits. Read more>>

Georgia’s elementary school performance declined in 2016 while the performance at other grade levels changed little from 2015. The results of the 2016 College and Career Ready Performance Index showed a decline of 4.3 points from 2015, when the state’s elementary schools scored an average of 76 points. Read more>>

In 2010, Alabama cracked down on gifts for public officials, which later led to a $25 cap on the gift a parent or child could give a school teacher. Today Alabama mostly backed away from that cap. Read more>>

Angela Pascopella

Superintendent Yolanda Valdez takes messaging seriously. Not emoji-filled texts or IMs, but messages that convey a goal for 4,000-plus students at Cutler-Orosi Joint USD in rural California: That they will attend college. Read more>>

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder abruptly dropped his lame-duck push to pay a portion of income tax refunds out of the School Aid Fund, backing off a plan that had infuriated K12 advocates because of a potential $425 million shift in dedicated education funding. Read more>>

Slow growth in Medicaid and grade school enrollment might slightly lighten two hefty costs in next year’s state budget, but Florida lawmakers will still face a $450 million budget hole without much extra cash to fill it. Read more>>

Exactly how much does a student’s performance in high school affect his or her later chances of success? According to a new report, the answer is exponentially. While 76 percent of high schoolers with an A average go on to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher within 10 years, that number drops to 50 percent for B-average students. Read more>>

The latest Program for International Student Assessment focused on science. In 2012, Shanghai came out as the top performer among all 65 education systems for mathematics, reading and science. Why? East Asian countries have convinced citizens to make choices that value education. And the school systems prioritize the quality of teachers over the size of classes. Read more>>

America spent over $640 billion on public K-12 education last year. Understandably, educational researchers are trying to understand the educational efficacy of different types of learning models, behavioral theories and materials to improve student achievement. Countless hours have been invested in trying to discern what works, what doesn’t, and what works with what types of students. Read more>>

If you think starting a new school is scary stuff—try doing it in a new country. Migrants can face a twin disadvantage. They are often concentrated in struggling schools. And, at least at first, they may suffer from having to toggle between languages at home and in class. Two-thirds of pupils born outside their host country use another tongue at home. Read more>>

The transition from proprietary to digital resources is new territory for many districts. To address these challenges, Knovation introduced Integration Services, including API service and cloud data integration to make their Content Collection compatible with a district’s existing learning platforms. Read more>>

Three virtual reality experiences exploring Civil War-themed issues and more than 350 other digital assets have been added to Discovery Education Streaming Plus and Techbook services. Additional digital content now available includes titles from Scholastic, Discovery Networks, Reuters and Mazzarella Media. Read more>>

Waggle has launched its new Interactive Growth Map and Administrator Dashboard. It gives administrators the ability to measure their students’ academic progress and collaborate with teachers on individualized instruction before tests are ever administered. Read more>>

Texas' Navasota ISD has named Stu Musick as a finalist in their search for a new superintendent. He has been an educator for 26 years, serving as a teacher, coach, middle school principal, high school principal and superintendent in two previous districts. He will replace Rory Gesch, who left the superintendent post in Navasota this summer. Read more>>

After a 40-year career in education, Norman Public Schools Superintendent Joseph Siano has announced he will retire June 30. He has led the Oklahoma school district as superintendent since 2000. Read more>>

John Antonucci, who has served as superintendent in Westwood for the past 12 years, has been chosen by the Duxbury School Committee to be the Massachusetts town's next superintendent. Read more>>